Milan Direct Reviews 

Ordered a replica eames bird in january at sale price of £23. I am now glad i paid by paypal. Waited almost a month no sign of the goods and no contact whatsoever from the company. I ended up putting claim in with paypal to get a refund. To this day (another month later) i have had no reply or explaination from milan direct as to why this happened. Avoid them like the plague

We had our furniture delivered and it was damaged, the only email address you can find is their sales one, you get asked loads of questions, asked for photos, then everything has to be referred back to Australia, and then silence... you can chase, that may help, but don't expect anything pro-active from them. A week after delivery and no collection... they do additional insurance, well don't take that either, I can't actually see what this is for, they are responsible for the delivery anyway and it certainly doesn't speed things up or give you any additional contact numbers... How a large company can carry on like this I'm not sure, wish I'd never ordered with them. Hopefully one day they read some of these reviews and actually try and do something about improving their service.

Protracted and problematic delivery. Customer support starts off ok but with persistent problems.....
The first part of my order (reproduction Barcelona Chairs) arrived on time a little dirty due to the packaging having disintegrated in transit.
The next part of my order (Forest Armchairs) arrived a month late after some chasing. This delivery was handled by Royal Mail and I suspect they marked the initial consignment as damaged due to poor condition of packaging and returned to sender.
The last part of my order (Eames Pad Chairs) has finally arrived 2 months late but is incomplete. The packaging was in bits and I suspect the small parts were lost in transit. The courier showed me why the package was so late, that Milan Direct had failed to label the address properly putting just the street name and post code. So now I am waiting for Milan Direct to follow up and hopefully they will send the missing parts. As reproductions the Eames Pad Chairs are not so good, not as adjustable as the description suggests and uncomfortable to sit on. I think once I get the missing parts they can go on eBay.
Aside from the very poor quality Eames Pad Chair the other items are good just marred by poor labelling and packaging (which was the cause of all the other issues). It was clear that the packaging fell to bits because they had been stored in damp / wet conditions. Perhaps my experience would have been better if I had made my order in the summer or if Milan Direct had put some plastic wrap around the parcels to protect them.

They will take your money and then give you the run around about the shipping by send the wrong con note number. They give you the wrong courier service and even they advise that the item may have been not shipped or lost. The customer service line is never manned, they don't return emails or you need to call 12 hours later and still get the wrong details. Buy items you can see and not from this company as you will loose your money

After reading some reviews I was sceptical about MD. They were offering a Ovalia egg chair at a discount and it stated delivery is usually 5 business days. To my delight the chair arrived after 5 days, the delivery man was friendly and helped me take the chair inside. The chair is great and of good quality. Thank You Milan Direct.

Not a good company to deal with at all. Complete lack of communication throughout, even provided return labels with the incorrect post code. Delivery not as promised and sales staff ignore requests and are unwilling to help or keep customers. Will not be using again.

I purchased the Noguchi coffee table from Milan Direct a couple of weeks ago. While looking up their website I came across these reviews which made me wonder if I had made a big mistake (I'd already purchased but not taken delivery).

I have to say that I've had no problems at all. The delivery of the table was delayed by 4 days due to "a delay with a shipping container" but I received my table about 8 days after ordering it - that is extremely quick for a coffee table, other websites were quoting a lead time of 4-6 weeks!

The table looks great and at around £130 is an absolute bargain. I've had it just over a week and I'm very pleased with it.

The only reason I'd not give them 5 stars is because the delivery company they use aren't very flexible - I live in a block of flats and the driver would not deliver to my door, only the door of the building - so I had a job carrying it into the lift and into my flat.

I wont go into minute details but in summary; ordered 4 chairs from them, they were very poor quality and one was damaged, in the end it cost me money to have them returned which took around 5 weeks from contacting them to getting a refund, they take days if not a week to reply to emails, tried to offer me a £25 refund to keep them, had more excuses for delayed replies than I care to mention and don't seem to understand or want to comply to the distance selling regulations.

In summary avoid, avoid, avoid..................

Have ordered 4 dining chairs with them. I know they didn't get that great reviews from the internet, but I was okay with so-so quality. BUT it has now been over a week since the order was placed, and still now sign of the chairs! or any information as to when they will be delivered. They don't have a telephone number you can contact them on (is that even legal in the UK?), so have written them a few times. Got an answer that their warehouse needs 5 business day to sort the order out ( it has now been 7 weekdays and 2 Saturdays)!!!! In the order confirmation it stated within 24 hours or next business day. The money has been deducted. Will have to wait and see what happens. but will for sure never buy here again!

My experience with them has been awful. I wanted to return a faulty item. I felt they tried to put obstacles in my way - asking for photos of the boxed item etc. I had to point out what my consumer rights were. After returning the item, 4 weeks went past and they hadn't got in touch or processed my refund. In the end I reported them to paypal. Paypal have ruled in my favour. I am still waiting for a refund, but thanks to paypal, I am confident that I will receive it. The whole experience was dreadful. I would not purchase or recommend this company ever. Worst customer experience I have ever encountered

I wish I had seen this site before ordering my Eames so-called 'premium quality' Italian leather chair and ottoman! It is a cheap and nasty reproduction badly put together with sub standard leather that is clearly defective.

I sought to return them as defective but was told I would need to pay £57 delivery and would get a refund minus initial delivery cost (i.e. leaving me £114 worse off). They suggested I send photographs of the defects, which I have done, but they have not responded to me at all.
I am now concerned this will not be resolved at all.
I will NEVER use this company again.

did not receive item in timescale stated on website, had to wait too long for reply as they are based in australia (which was not stated on website). I cancelled order and asked for full refund, eventually they responded and agreed to do this as a matter of urgency (this was 10 days ago and no refund). I am having to make a claim through paypal to get my money back.

I ordered a glass table because it was attractively priced. The base of the table arrived two days later, but not the top. I then had a lengthy exchange of email messages with their customer services (based in Australia). There was no phone number on the website (a legal requirement for UK companies that take payment by credit card). Eventually two weeks later the glass top was delivered -- to the wrong address about 200m away from me. Advice: avoid.

Came within 4 days of ordering, seat is great. Very happy.

Was worried when I saw the reviews on here but went ahead anyway.
Bought a lamp and it was delivered next day, well packaged. Lamp appears good.
Happy with Milan Direct.

I ordered an item in March for June delivery. This has now been pushed back to August. I've had to chase twice for refund and still have no reply.

UPDATE - Finally got a reply which refused to acknowledge my request for a refund. I'm not sure how my request "please refund" could be misinterpreted to "would you like something else from our range:. Err, no. After 5 months of waiting I want my money back, not a load of delaying tactics. Hilariously, the email went on to say there were lots of reason why my order might be delayed (obviously someone there used to work for Dwell as they used the same excuses) such as weather (!) or customs hold ups.

When it looks too good to be true it is. Add to that lies about delivery times and I will never order again from this lot

I received box 2 and 3 of my Eames chair but was told box 1 had not been loaded on the van so was still in Coventry about 30 miles away. I was promised it would be loaded on the over night van and delivered the next day - it wasn't. It ended up some 200 miles away in Exeter!! Not what I expected for an almost £50 delivery charge.
When assembled it looked good. However some piping is not sewn in properly so sticks out and there's gaps. Also three small brown dots clustered together on the ottoman which won't come off. The pre drilled metal thread which holds the base on was drilled at an angle so the base wouldn't fit. Given the problems people have experienced trying to send items back, I got my husband to straighten it with the tap of a hammer. I didn't want to pay thousands although such a chair maybe better quality. For just under £300 it's fine - just don't look too closely.

Bought the soft pad EAMES replica chair from MilanDirect in March 2014.

Based on the price and compared to other replicas, I didn't expect original-like quality. However, having seen others of similar price in showrooms, I do regret having purchased it from MilanDirect.

The leather is marketed as 'premium top-grain Italian Leather' but it seems far from that. The one I've got looks cheap and had some marks that extended across the seat.
Brought this to the attention of MilanDirect, including photos, who responded as below:
"... As Charlotte mentioned, the £25.00 refund was offered to you as a good will gesture as we do not believe that the leather of the chair is faulty.
Please note the following form our warranty information page:
Milan Direct does not consider the following to be covered by this warranty:
Damage to packaging only; and
Minor variations in colour, grain or finish.
Please let us know if you would like to accept the partial refund of £25.00..."

When complained about that answer, stating that it contradicted their claim to be 'premium top-grain Italian Leather' and that I was not satisfied with the quality and their resolution, they came back with:
“...I regret to hear that you feel this way.
I have spoken to my manager and he has advised me that you are more than welcome to take the chair to a furniture specialist for evaluation of the leather. If the specialist should, in writing, deem that the variation in grain is a major failure Milan Direct is willing to consider having the item returned for a refund under the 14 Day Money Back Guarantee i.e. less shipping costs and return shipping costs.
Please note that this evaluation would incur at your own cost.
Alternatively, we are more than happy to honor our offer of a £25.00 partial refund.
Please note that as all our items come with a 1 year warranty and should the leather on the seat of the chair majorly fail under this time period we are liable to repair or replace the chair at no additional cost…”


The above would seem to contradict, as I understand it, the responsibility of the retailer as per UK's Sale of Goods Act 1979 where the retailer not the buyer is responsible to demonstrate the goods are not faulty and should replace. But then again, shipping and fighting for any consumer rights you may have is a big hassle for a relatively low cost purchase.
Having seen other reviews, it does seem a recurring thing for MilanDirect to ship lower-than-expected quality and then, if you complain, they offer you a rebate.
So this means you could get the product even cheaper which can be a good deal, but if you're interested in having a nice looking chair, then you're stuck with the cheapo-looking one.
I also bought a rocking Eames replica of which the plastic is also a bit ‘grainy’ and has the same cheapo look (in my humble opinion).
Other than the leather, the chair is OK. The frame is sturdy and the castors are fine. In terms of customer support, other than the disappointing responses, they always responded swiftly and the chairs arrived in no time.
Would I buy again from MilanDirect? Nope.
Or to put it another way, had I seen the chair before buying it, I would have spent a bit more for a better replica.

Were sent two chairs, one had a large rip in it, making it unusable, it's now four weeks since we received the product, at first they offered us £20 to fund finding a repair (they expected us to do this ourselves), we declined wanting a replacement and haven't heard anything back since. Absolutely awful customer service and shall never be using this company again.